Mapping socio-ecological vulnerability of tropical peat landscape fires
- 1Asian School of the Environment, Nanyang Technological University of Singapore, Singapore (janicelee@ntu.edu.sg)
- 2Earth Observatory of Singapore, Nanyang Technological University of Singapore, Singapore
- 3Research Center for Society and Culture, Indonesian Institute of Sciences, Jakarta, Indonesia
- 4Peatland Restoration Agency, Jakarta, Indonesia
- 5University of Jambi, Jambi, Indonesia
- 6Department of Social Science, Institut Agama Islam Negeri (IAIN), Pontianak, West Kalimantan, Indonesia
- 7Disaster Resilience Leadership Academy, School of Social Work, Tulane University
- 8Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, The University of Tennessee, Knoxville, USA
- 9National Parks Board, Singapore
- 10Department of Biological Sciences, National University of Singapore
- 11Borneo Orangutan Survival Foundation, BOSF, Central Kalimantan, Indonesia
Fire represents a mainstay for rural communities managing tropical landscapes. However, increasing uncontrolled fires in tropical landscapes because of land use and climate change pose a major threat to livelihoods, public health, and ecosystems. Peatlands in Southeast Asia are one such example of tropical landscapes that experience high flammability due to clearance of forests and excessive drainage for agriculture and forestry. The degradation of tropical peatland ecosystems increases their susceptibility to landscapes fires, which in turn increase the vulnerability of people and peatland conditions to future fires. To identify locations of tropical peatlands and surrounding communities that are vulnerable to fires, we conducted a socio-ecological vulnerability assessment and mapped the socio-ecological vulnerability of tropical peatlands to fires. We used an inductive approach to conceptualize and operationalize vulnerability and its associated dimensions of exposure, sensitivity, and adaptive capacity through empirical case studies in the literature, with a focus on tropical peatlands and fires in Indonesia. We present preliminary results of our mapped social and ecological vulnerability of Indonesia’s tropical peatlands to peat landscape fires. This would allow policymakers to identify places which display both high ecological and social vulnerability to fires and channel aid and mitigation efforts where they are most urgently needed.
How to cite: Lee, J. S. H., Fatimah, Y. A., Smith, S. W., Rahman, N. E., Nurhidayah, L., Wardhana, B., Saad, A., Prasojo, Z., Khan, F., Wu, M. S., Giam, X., Chong, K. Y., Graham, L., and Lallemant, D.: Mapping socio-ecological vulnerability of tropical peat landscape fires, EGU General Assembly 2022, Vienna, Austria, 23–27 May 2022, EGU22-6811, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-6811, 2022.